Kesari’s first look out, but Akshay Kumar is not the only one fighting Battle of Saragarhi

Khiladi Kumar’s Padman is just around the corner. With the new release date confirmed, our very own sanitary superhero is set to rock the Republic Day weekend. But that doesn’t ease Akshay Kumar’s life, the actor has already started shooting for his next titled Kesari. The film went on the floor on Friday and Akki was quick to share his look on Instagram. Kumar dons a turban again and seems ready for battle.

Kesari, directed by Anurag Singh, is based on the Battle of Saragarhi which took place in 1897 between the British Indian Army and Afghan Orakzai tribesmen, in the North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan). Akshay plays Havildar Ishar Singh in this period film. One that he is also producing. The film is looking to release on Holi 2019.

Karan Johar announced the film in collaboration with Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan in October last year. Salman, however, dropped out of the project later. Reports say that it was on the insistence of good friend Ajay Devgn who is also producing a film on the same subject.

In July 2016 Ajay had shared a poster of the film titled Sons of Sardaar: The Battle of Saragarhi. However a year later Devgn said, "We are working on the script but it won’t happen for another two years because of the scale of the project.”

Devgn, however, isn’t the only other star to make a film on the subject. One of history's greatest last-stands has attracted others as well. Rajkumar Santoshi was also making a film titled Battle of Saragarhi. In August 2016, Randeep Hooda shared the first look on his Twitter page which also stars Vikramjeet Virk and Danny Denzongpa. In the black-and-white picture, the 41-year-old actor can be seen dressed in a khaki uniform with a turban. However, reports say, that budget issues have now cropped up and the film has been stalled.

So that leaves Kumar as the front-runner for a release on the silver screen. But TV isn’t far behind. Mohit Raina is ready to take advantage of the situation on the small screen. As the fans of Akshay Kumar go crazy on Twitter over the first look of Kesari, the look of Mohit Raina as Havildar Ishar Singh was also unveiled. The show is titled 21 Sarfarosh: Saragarhi 1897 and is a docu-drama that stars Mohit Raina, Mukul Dev, and Balraj Singh Khehra of MTV Roadies fame. The show will begin airing soon on Discovery Jeet.